Convert Foot to Meter
Conversion Formula
m = ft × 0.3048To convert Foot to Meter, use the formula above. This is the standard conversion factor used worldwide.
Conversion Table
| Foot (ft) | Meter (m) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.304800 |
| 5 | 1.524000 |
| 10 | 3.048000 |
| 100 | 30.480000 |
Why convert Foot to Meter
A US homeowner listing a room dimension for an overseas buyer, a shipper filling out a container spec, or someone comparing a US appliance's height in feet to a European model listed in meters needs this direction. It starts from the unit most Americans think in and ends in the unit the rest of the world's paperwork expects.
Where the number comes from
The foot equals exactly 0.3048 meters by international agreement, so multiplying a foot figure by 0.3048 gives an exact metric result, not an estimate. This is one of the cleaner imperial to metric conversions because the defining relationship has no repeating decimal to round away.
Quick reference
| 1 ft | 0.3048 m | exact |
| 10 ft | 3.048 m | a typical US ceiling height range |
| 6 ft | 1.829 m | common adult height reference |
| 100 ft | 30.48 m | a US football field's width |
| 1 yd (3 ft) | 0.9144 m | |
| 5,280 ft (1 mi) | 1,609.344 m |
Common mistakes
- Converting a compound measurement like 5 feet 8 inches requires converting the inches to a fraction of a foot first, 8 in becomes 0.667 ft, before multiplying by 0.3048, and skipping that step produces a result off by roughly 0.2 meters, large enough to matter on a doorway or shipping crate spec.
- People also apply the meter to foot factor, 3.28, instead of its reciprocal when going this direction, which inflates the metric answer instead of shrinking it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert 5 feet 8 inches into meters?
Convert the inches to a decimal foot (8 divided by 12 equals 0.667), add it to 5 to get 5.667, then multiply by 0.3048 to get 1.727 m.
Should I multiply or divide by 0.3048 to go from feet to meters?
Multiply. Dividing by 0.3048 converts meters into feet instead, the opposite direction.
What is a quick sanity check for a feet to meters conversion?
A meter is noticeably longer than a foot, so the metric answer should always be a smaller number than the foot figure you started with, roughly a third of it.
Do shipping containers use feet or meters for their listed dimensions?
Standard containers are marketed worldwide by a nominal foot length, 20 ft or 40 ft, but the detailed internal dimensions on a spec sheet are usually given in meters, so both units end up on the same document.